I’ve never experienced the condescending “well, young lady” thing during my career. Although I’m (now only moderately) young, and a lady, I guess the biggest challenge I have faced as a female lawyer is that of being a mother and an experienced lawyer at the same time.
I am following the US response to GDPR (CLOUD Act, California Consumer Privacy Act, etc), which is not a simple equation at a time of global IT solutions! Another major issue now is trying to cope with the clichés on GDPR that the market’s new consciousness on privacy tends to disseminate (eg, the false myth of consent as the only possible ground for data processing).
I would advise aspiring privacy professionals to go ahead! This is still a new profession – barriers to entry are lower than in other fields because you do not have to displace a field of pre-existing men as in other traditional fields.